Jen Charette, co-owner of Peak to Peak Bicycles decided to fill a need in the womens’ cycling industry for a new niche market: cycling moms. The result is Velo Mom, a website and resource for avid cyclists. It’s full of adventures, family rides, tips and tricks to become a better cyclist, motherhood stories, product reviews, news relating to women, moms, and kids in the cycling industry, interviews with cycling moms and more.

Jen’s initial question as we discussed her design project was one I get a lot: “I don’t have a budget for the full corporate identity AND custom website. Where’s the best place to invest my money to give my business identity the strongest brand for the budget?”…

My advice, as always, is start with the logo – the foundation of your company brand.

Over time, an established logo and recognizable company image is something money cannot by. Don’t lose a moment, create the logo you love that captures your company spirit now. That’s exactly what Jen did.

Jen had an idea in mind for the mom logo she envisioned, and Dayzign set to work to illustrate the gal, find and integrate the perfect font and colors for the client’s taste, and set the files up technically for all possible uses from web to print to t-shirts.

Next up was the website.

No budget for a full custom site? Dayzign can recommend a variety of options for small business start ups including the following:

WordPress Template with your logo in the header – This was the solution for Velo Mom. There are so many templates out there, if you can’t do the full custom image right off the bat, WordPress is free, easy to edit, and a great place to start. If you have your logo in place, you can grow your website when you’re ready.

WordPress Template with a custom header – For a more personal look, this is the next step. Dayzign can design an entire header that matches your corporate identity, and integrate it with a template for the rest of the site. This is a good “middle of the road option” for a start-up website business that wants to stand out, but doesn’t have the budget for a custom design site YET.

Custom Website – The ideal scenario for creating the strongest branding for your company is to design the logo and a matching custom website together. This creates your complete business identity and sets your company apart from all others, and all template sites.

Of the design process, Jen says, “I have always been a fan of Kellie’s Chicks with Picks artwork and wanted a similar design for the Velo Mom logo. Kellie was able to start with little input and then work with me to customize the image until it was perfect. I was very impressed with how Kellie would listen to my feedback and then get the design just right. She is also very easy to work with and has an excellent communication process.”

Jen’s off to a great start with Velo Mom. If you’re a mom who’s into biking – don’t miss it!